Veronica Daigle, principal deputy assistant secretary for Readiness for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), recently visited the Pennsylvania National Guard’s (PNG) training center at Fort Indiantown Gap (FTIG) as part of her tour of schools and ranges where soldiers and airmen from National Guard, Reserves and active duty all train year-round.
Specifically, Daigle wanted to inspect the PNG’s training and see how it builds readiness among its military components, which include PNG soldiers and airmen, as well as Reserve, active duty and civilian operations.
“We were grateful for the opportunity to show Secretary Daigle why Fort Indiantown Gap is the busiest National Guard training center in the nation and how efficient we are with the resources allocated to our facility,” Maj. Gen. Tony Carrelli, Pennsylvania’s adjutant general and head of the PA Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA), said. “Fort Indiantown Gap played host to more than 150,000 active duty, Reserve and National Guard service members in 2018, the most to ever train here since its inception in 1998. That capability is opening the eyes of our military supporters at the federal level.”
The PNG represents the second largest National Guard force in the United States, with more than 19,000 soldiers and airmen under its command.